Santa Barbara County astronomers have received a multi-million dollar grant to build robotic telescopes.
Goleta-based Las Cumbres Observatory known as LCO -- which has a global network of robotic telescopes -- received a nearly $5 million dollar grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to build two more telescopes that will be located on the Canary Islands.
Todd Boroson with LCO says this will greatly increase the observatory’s ability to observe objects in the northern sky.
“This will now allow us to both be able to observe anything, anytime, anywhere in the sky, but also it will allow us to observe things continuously. And for some objects that’s very important because they change quite rapidly,” he says.
The telescopes and infrastructure are expected to be constructed and installed by late summer next year.